Sixteen more new evidence items were donated to the Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre as proof of the Japanese invaders' atrocity during World War II, said local sources on Saturday.

They were donated by a Japanese man surnamed Ohigashi, who had given the memorial hall more than 1,000 evidence items in the past.

The new evidences include a copy of Japanese newspaper Osaka Mainichi Shinbun on September 20, 1937, which carried the report of Japanese aircraft bombing Nanjing city in east China's Jiangsu Province.

An introduction by the Japanese army recorded the battles they fought in Nanjing.

The most valuable pieces, according to Zhu Chengshan, curator of the memorial hall, were 13 photos and an envelope.

"The photos were shot by a military officer in February 1938 and sent to his daughter namely Yamazaki Yonego," Zhu said.

He noted that the photos were about scenes of the damaged Nanjing city and slaughtered citizens in Nanjing.

Pointing at a photo which showed scattered bodies, he said, "they are the best evidences of the history, in which Japanese troops committed bloody atrocities in Nanjing."

Invading Japanese troops occupied Nanjing on December 13, 1937, and launched a six-week massacre. Chinese records show more than 300,000people, not only disarmed soldiers but also civilians, were murdered.

Sunday will mark the 72th anniversary of the massacre.

Zhu said that a series of activities, including religious assembly by Chinese and Japanese monks, ceremony to release lanterns of peace and vigil for the dead, shall be carried out, so as to "remind people of the history and encourage them to strive for peace."

(Xinhua News Agency December 12, 2009)